Nick Barilo is Executive Director of the Center for Hydrogen Safety (CHS) at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (www.aiche.org/chs) and Hydrogen Safety Program manager at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). CHS is a global nonprofit resource that supports and promotes hydrogen's safe handling and use across industrial and consumer applications in the energy transition. As Executive Director of CHS, Nick helps to facilitate access to hydrogen safety experts; develop comprehensive safety guidance, outreach, and education materials, and provide a forum to partner on worldwide technical solutions.

Nick is also a licensed fire protection engineer having over 30 years of experience and has dedicated his career to reducing risks to personnel and property. He has served on the NFPA 2, Hydrogen Technologies Code committee and was instrumental in developing the document’s fundamental chapters. His work at PNNL provides essential hydrogen safety support for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Office. In this capacity, he directs the U.S. Hydrogen Safety Panel activities and leads safety knowledge dissemination and first responder training efforts. Nick has authored papers and journal articles and has presented both nationally and internationally on hydrogen safety.

Dr. Harold Beeson recently retired from his position as Chief of the Materials and Components Laboratories Office at the NASA White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces after 28 years of service to NASA and has joined WHA International as a Principal Chemist and Forensic Scientist. One of the original members of the Hydrogen Safety Panel, Dr. Beeson received his Doctorate in Chemistry from the University of New Mexico after which he began his career first, as a research scientist for the New Mexico Engineering Research Institute contracted to the United States Air Force and later as a Civil Servant for NASA.

Harold is the author of over 200 papers and presentations in the areas of fire safety and mishap investigation. He led teams that developed the NASA propellant safety manuals for hydrogen and oxygen and has been an instructor for NASA and industry in courses on hydrogen safety and oxygen safety. Harold has experience in fire extinguishing, spacecraft fire safety, cleaning of hardware for aerospace, detonations and explosions; however, Harold has focused much of his recent technical effort into the safety of Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Composite Overwrapped Pressure vessels.

Mr. Bucci has over 40 years experience in the Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear industry with an emphasis in Emergency Management (EM) and Fire Protection (FP) Engineering. His experience includes development, coordination, and implementation of EM and FP Programs; developing and evaluating hazards analyses; performing facility and program assessments; the development, implementation, and evaluation of EM exercises and drills, and emergency response actions. He served as the lead technical reviewer of EM hazards assessments and supporting documents on behalf of Hanford DOE site offices, and participated on numerous EM and FP program/facility assessments at Hanford and in support of DOE Headquarters-sponsored assessment and appraisal teams.

Mr. Bucci holds a Master of Arts in Homeland Security, a Bachelor of Science in General Studies and an Associates in Applied Science in Fire Protection Engineering Technology. He is also a Member Grade in the Society of Fire Protection Engineers.

Mr. Farese recently retired from Air Products and Chemicals after a 34 year career. Most recently Mr. Farese was the Technical Manager for Operations supporting Hydrogen for Mobility (H2fM) and Advanced Systems. This role consisted of providing technical support to the Engineering, Operations, and Commercial teams, particularly for hydrogen refueling stations and new uses of hydrogen as a fuel.

Previously, Mr Farese was the Engineering Manager for the H2fM and Advanced Systems teams. Responsibilities included leading a team of engineers to design, build, and install complex gas delivery systems to support customer needs. The team specialized in new hydrogen technologies, particularly those for fueling vehicles. Specific duties included system design; scope, schedule and budget development; sales and marketing support; project execution; codes and standards development, and process safety support.

Mr. Farese also participates in several codes and standards efforts and is a principal member of the NFPA 2 Technical Committee, the DOE Hydrogen Safety Panel, and holds over twenty patents in the areas of hydrogen fueling and high pressure compression.

Livio Gambone recently joined Nikola Motor as the head of hydrogen storage, responsible for the development, testing and approval of the high pressure hydrogen fuel storage system onboard Nikola’s new Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell powered trucks. He was formerly responsible for CSA Group’s hydrogen test facility which is equipped to perform design qualification, certification and upset condition testing of hydrogen vehicle and fueling infrastructure components. Livio is a technical advisor on compressed natural gas (CNG) and hydrogen-related technical matters to government agencies such as Natural Resources Canada, Transport Canada (Road Safety), U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Transportation (NHTSA). He is also an expert in the failure analysis of metallic and composite reinforced pressure vessels and has been involved as an expert witness in numerous failure investigations involving litigation.

Brian is the Hazardous Materials Coordinator for the Calgary Fire Department in Alberta, Canada. He received a B.Sc. in Chemistry in 1993 and worked as an industrial research chemist in a number of disciplines including disinfectants, heavy cleaners and exterior wood coatings. Brian joined the City of Calgary Fire Department in 1999 and was promoted to Hazardous Materials Coordinator in 2012. He has a strong background in Fire codes, Transportation of Dangerous Goods, hazmat related training, safety & awareness and response, and is actively involved nationally with several committees for the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs.

Brian’s interest in alternative energy lead to an appointment in 2009 with the US Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Industry Panel on Codes. He was invited to join the Technical Committee for NFPA 2 Hydrogen Technologies Code in 2012. Brian maintains a strong interest in first responder safety & response and has authored several journal articles, industry specific training manuals and has presented nationally and internationally on a variety of hazardous materials related topics.

Miguel J. Maes obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from New Mexico State University with a minor in Environmental Engineering. Mr. Maes has worked for NASA at the Johnson Space Center’s White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) since 1996 where he began his career studying and testing materials and components in hypergolic propellants. He began his hydrogen career working as a project manager for re-certification of the space shuttle’s Liquid Hydrogen Recirculation Pumps (LHRPs) from 2000 to 2005 and from 2008 to 2010 was responsible for reactivating WSTF’s Hydrogen Flow Control Valve (HFCV) test facility and performing qualification testing of new HFCVs.

Mr. Maes is one of the co-instructors of NASA’s Hydrogen Safety Course that is taught at each of the NASA centers and is also available through AIAA. He is now the manager of the Hydrogen Group at WSTF. This group is responsible for reviewing and evaluating the hazards of all hydrogen systems at WSTF and has been requested on multiple agency hydrogen safety inquiries for ground support equipment issues as well as International Space Station (ISS) and Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) hydrogen issues.

Hydrogen systems and safety consultant Larry Moulthrop started working with hydrogen systems in 1978 - and he hasn’t stopped yet. H2 generation equipment manufacturing, H2 product certification, H2 applications project management, H2 vehicle fueling stations, hazard assessment facilitation, safety codes and standards development, and H2 safety training are all part of Larry’s background experience portfolio.

A chemical engineer by degree, Larry provides H2 systems safety guidance to industry, research labs, and consumers as an independent contractor. Larry joined the Hydrogen Safety Panel in 2014, and since then has contributed to the Panel’s educational outreach, system safety reviews, and online training for research laboratory and water electrolysis safety (via the AIChE Center for Hydrogen Safety).

As a hydrogen safety expert, he has contributed to NFPA 2: Hydrogen Technologies Code (2012-2023 versions), the ISO 19880:2020 Hydrogen Fueling Stations standard, and the water electrolysis system product standards ISO22734 (2019 convenor) and CSA B22734 (committee vice-chair).

Larry has extensive hydrogen system product design, test, and certification experience focused on PEM water electrolysis systems for industry and fueling applications. Bringing 18 years of electrochemical engineering systems experience at General Electric and United Technologies with him, Larry co-founded Proton Energy Systems (d/b/a Proton OnSite) in 1996 to develop and build commercial PEM-based water electrolysis products. As VP Hydrogen Systems, he worked with Proton’s engineering and applications teams to build and deliver packaged hydrogen generators into vehicle fueling, renewable energy capture, telecom backup power, and many industrial hydrogen applications. Larry managed product safety, intellectual property, and product code compliance/certification processes for all these product and project efforts. From 2010 – 2016 he also managed operations of a PV-augmented H2 fueling station based at Proton and the fleet of 12 fuel cell vehicles attached to it.

Larry has 22 issued US patents in the areas of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrochemical cell design and H2 system architecture through his prior work with Proton, United Technologies, and General Electric. He received his BSChE degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1978.

Annemarie graduated from the University of Twente with a Master's in chemical engineering. She has more than 15 years of experience solving complex process safety challenges with practical solutions. Her work experience includes Nel Fueling as the Senior Director of QHSE, Shell as a process safety engineer and Hydrogen Safety management, and Comprimo Sulphur Solutions as a design engineer. As a hydrogen safety expert, she has participated in various industry bodies, including cochairing the Hydrogen Council’s Safety Working Group from April 2019 – 2021. Annemarie has contributed to codes and standards organizations and participated in industry/government collaborations, including WVIP (Hydrogen Safety Innovation Program for the Netherlands), and has been a board member for the Center for Hydrogen Safety.

Annemarie has a proven track record in process safety in field applications, including refinery and hydrogen refueling stations, and design projects involving the application of regulations, codes, and standards. She is passionate about safety leadership and a strong advocate for safety culture in the workplace.

Annemarie currently works at OCI Global as Global Process Safety Manager.

Dr. Brian Somerday has more than 25 years of experience in mechanical metallurgy with a focus on environmental effects on fatigue and fracture of structural metals. During careers at Sandia National Laboratories and Southwest Research Institute, his applied research activities were centered primarily on characterizing hydrogen embrittlement in a range of structural metals, including ferritic steels, austenitic steels, nickel alloys, and titanium alloys. His distinguishing expertise was applying fracture mechanics methods to measure fatigue and fracture properties of structural metals in gaseous and aqueous environments that promote hydrogen embrittlement. These data were intended to enable materials selection and structural integrity assessments for components subject to hydrogen embrittlement. Brian is currently a Materials Engineering Consultant with Somerday Consulting, LLC.

Brian has published extensively on the topic of hydrogen embrittlement of structural metals, including co-authoring the Technical Reference for Hydrogen Compatibility of Materials (www.sandia.gov/matlsTechRef/) and co-editing the two-volume set Gaseous Hydrogen Embrittlement of Materials in Energy Technologies (Woodhead Publishing, 2012).

Rick Tedeschi is a Project Manager and chemical engineer. The majority of his career has been at the Hanford site supporting clean-up of legacy radioactive wastes for the Department of Energy, including the design, testing, and startup of key systems and facilities. He has developed and implemented safety analyses, operational safety requirements, and procedures and plans to safely store and retrieve tank waste. Prior to his work at Hanford, Rick worked at a large chemical firm in a variety of engineering positions involving chemical manufacturing and environmental remediation. He has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of North Dakota, and is a licensed professional engineer and holds the Project Manager certification from the Project Management Institute. He currently manages his own consulting firm to advance the safe implementation of hydrogen fuel cell and supply chain technologies.

Thomas Witte graduated valedictorian from Villanova University as a Chemical Engineer in 1983. He promptly began working for Air Products and Chemicals designing industrial gas systems (nitrogen, oxygen, argon, helium, and hydrogen). Tom has been involved in the installation of thousands of cryogenic and gaseous systems, including hydrogen fueling stations. He was the North American Engineering Manager for Air Products and Chemicals prior to retiring from Air Products in 2014 to start his own consulting company, Witte Engineered Gases. As part of his duties as Engineering Manager, he trained personnel, developed procedures and design standards, and was responsible for the engineering of all industrial gas systems installed at customers sites. Tom's hydrogen expereince includes responsibility for the hydrogen design standards, hydrogen safety training, advanced systems design, managing a liquid hydrogen transfill, and testing the new liquid hydrogen and oxygen system at the Cape Canaveral launch site at Space Launch Complex (SLC) 37.

In addition to system design and project management, Tom has been involved in the development of codes and standards for the National Fire Protection Association and Compressed Gas Association (CGA), with special emphasis on gaseous and liquid hydrogen systems. In 2013, Tom was awarded the CGA 2013 Recipient of Chart Industries Distinguished Service Award.

Dr. C. Regis Bauwens is a Senior Lead Research Scientist at FM Global, where he currently serves as Technical Team Leader for the Explosion and Blast Research group and holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University. Over his 17-year career at FM Global, he has gained extensive experience performing large-scale experimental studies and developing analytical and numerical modeling tools for industrial safety applications. In his work, Dr. Bauwens has conducted in-depth research on topics related to hydrogen safety, including deflagration venting, vapor cloud explosions, dispersion analysis, and large-scale flame propagation. Dr. Bauwens is an active member of several professional committees, including the NFPA Technical Committee on Explosion Protection Systems, and serves on the board of directors of the Institute on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems.

Ken Boyce is Principal Engineer Director, Energy & Power Technologies at UL LLC. Ken has decades of experience in safety engineering across many sectors. Most recently he has served as UL’s technical leader for the energy and power sectors, overseeing standards development and technical operations for renewable energy technologies, batteries and energy storage, advanced technology infrastructure, electric vehicle systems, power distribution, factory automation, and related equipment. He serves as the Chairman of UL’s Renewable Energy Council. Ken is very active in the standards and code development community, and serves as the Chairman of National Electrical Code Panel 1 for the National Fire Protection Association. He represents UL in numerous global energy initiatives such as the IEC Renewable Energy Scheme. He works closely with US National Laboratories and academic institutions to advance scientific knowledge, including leading a number of significant renewable energy research projects. Ken holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, is a Registered Professional Engineer in Illinois, and is a Corporate Fellow in the William Henry Merrill Society at UL.

The design of cryogenic liquid hydrogen systems has been a centerpiece to Tom Drube’s 30+ years of equipment design experience. Since 1989 Tom has worked for Chart Industries and it’s legacy company Minnesota Valley Engineering. He has designed equipment for all the major hydrogen gas producers and the space program. Tom is active in the Compressed Gas Association’s Hydrogen Technology, Standards Council, Bulk Distribution and Natural Gas Committees. He has also been a contributor to NFPA 55 Compressed Gases and Cryogenics Fluid Code and NFPA 2 Hydrogen Technologies Code.

Tom has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Technology Management from the University of Minnesota. He is a Chart Engineering Fellow, Registered Professional Engineer and holds 25 US patents.

Employed by Becht since 2003, Don Frikken was an Engineering Fellow with Solutia, Inc., in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He had been with Solutia, Inc. and Monsanto Company since 1968, working on a wide range of activities including piping and mechanical design, project engineering, process safety, and engineering standards.

Don’s principal specialty is piping design, including design of complex piping systems, piping flexibility analysis, selection of piping components including valves, development of piping standards and specifications, and developing and teaching numerous piping courses and workshops. He is an ASME Fellow and has been active on various ASME Piping Code Committees. He served as the chair of the ASME B31.3 Process Piping Code committee as well as the B31 Standards Committee, which oversees all B31 Piping Code committees. He is also a member of the ASME B31.12 Section Committee and the ASME B16 Standards Committee. He is a past ASME Senior Vice President and a past member of the ASME Board of Governors.

Don has received a number of awards, including the ASME Melvin R. Green Codes and Standards Medal, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the development of standards and the ASME B31 Forever Medal for Excellence in Piping. Don graduated with a B.S.M.E. from Kansas State University and has a master’s degree in civil engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Don is a past-chair of the Hydrogen Safety Panel.

Aaron developed a passion for US energy independence during his service in the US Marine Corps. While researching career options, before leaving the Marines, Aaron stumbled onto hydrogen fuel cells and became enamored with the technology. The potential for hydrogen to serve both environmental and national security interests drove his pursuit of bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington.

Aaron has held various positions at several companies including: International Fuel Cells, The Boeing Company, Nuvera Fuel Cells and Sandia National Laboratories. Aaron is currently the Technical Director of Hydrogen Energy at Air Liquide Advanced Technologies US in Houston TX. He has published numerous articles on hydrogen safety and serves on many codes and standards development committees.

Dr. Chris LaFleur the manager of the Risk & Reliability Analyses Department at Sandia Nation Labs in Albuquerque, NM. She was previously the program lead for Hydrogen Safety, Codes and Standards for 6 years. Chris’ main research focus involves evaluating fire risks for emerging energy technologies. Her recent work involves characterizing risks from traffic incidents involving hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in tunnels for several metropolitan areas on the east coast, including evaluating the impacts of hydrogen jet flames on steel and concrete structural members. These analyses enable the safe implementation of cleaner transportation fuels to reduce U.S. reliance on fossil fuels and increase the availability of renewable energy solutions. Prior to joining Sandia, Chris worked at General Motors where she managed corporate fire protection standards and was responsible for property insurance and enterprise risk management. Chris began her career as an environmental engineer for Parsons Engineering Science.

Chris is a licensed professional engineer and serves as the Chair of NFPA 2, Hydrogen Technologies Code and on the Center for Hydrogen Safety’s Hydrogen Safety Panel. She was the 2021 recipient of the Society of Women Engineers Advocating for Women in Engineering National Award. Chris received the Technical Program Area Award for 2020 from the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Office. In 2017, she received the Government Category Clean Energy Education & Empowerment Award. Chris earned a B.S. in Geology and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester, a M.S. in Fire Protection Engineering from the University of Maryland and a Doctorate of Engineering in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Michigan.

David Moore is the founder, President and CEO of the AcuTech Group, a process risk management consulting firm based in Vienna, Virginia, since 1994. Mr. Moore has over forty years of specialized experience as a recognized global expert on process safety management to corporations involved with hazardous chemicals in the energy, oil & gas, chemical, pipeline, pharmaceutical, biotech, and manufacturing industries. Mr. Moore has experience with hydrogen safety in a wide range of applications including in hydrogen production, transportation, manufacturing, and use as a fuel. He has been engaged in consequence modeling for H2 release, fire hazards analysis of a blue hydrogen plant, siting studies for facilities handling vapor and liquid H2, HAZOP study of a hydrogen fueling station, safety analysis of electrolyzers, and critical infrastructure security design for a green hydrogen plant.

Mr. Moore is a Registered Professional Engineer (PE) in Fire Protection Engineering (State of Pennsylvania). He is a member of the National Fire Protection Association, the American Society of Safety Engineers, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the American Society of Industrial Security. He serves on the AIChE (CCPS®) Center for Chemical Process Safety Technical Steering Committee, the Texas A&M University Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center Technical Advisory Board, the Purdue University Center Process Safety Assurance Center (P2SAC), and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Center for Hydrogen Safety Managing Board. Mr. Moore was formerly a Senior Engineer with Mobil Corporation and a Fire Protection Engineer with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Mr. Moore is a Registered Professional Engineer (PE) in Fire Protection Engineering (State of Pennsylvania). He is a Managing Board Member of the AIChE Center for Hydrogen Safety, and a past Board Member of the Energy Security Council. Mr. Moore is a Fellow of the AIChE CCPS®. He holds an MBA, New York University, and a B.Sc., Fire Protection Engineering, University of Maryland.

Dr. Danielle “Dani” Murphy is a Senior Mechanical and Forensic Engineer at WHA International Inc. Dr. Murphy received her doctorate in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Chemical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines, where she conducted laboratory research and CFD modeling on Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) systems and reactor technology for hydrogen production. After completing her education, Dr. Murphy started a career in forensic engineering, conducted investigations on a wide variety of incidents including fires and explosions in laboratory, residential, commercial, and large-scale chemical process environments. After returning to the Denver area, she worked as a researcher for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at the Hydrogen Infrastructure Testing and Research Facility (HITRF). Dani carried out laboratory testing and modeling on renewable hydrogen production projects as well as hydrogen fueling station infrastructure, controls, and safety.

After joining WHA in 2019, Dani began investigating forensic incidents involving fires, explosions and pressure equipment failures in flammable fuels and oxygen-enriched environments with a specific emphasis on hydrogen incidents. She is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI) and the hydrogen team lead for WHA. Dani recently advanced and expanded WHA’s capabilities for hydrogen combustion risk analysis and hydrogen safety training courses for general awareness, operations and maintenance personnel, and design engineers. In addition to conducting hazards analyses and teaching hydrogen safety courses, Dani provides consulting and custom testing services for hydrogen and hydrogen mixture systems in a variety of applications including electrolyzers, fuel cells, chemical processes, transportation, and novel hydrogen systems and applications. Dani also pursues and leads research projects to understand and fill gaps in the current hydrogen technology safe handling practices.

Spencer Quong is the Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of Quong & Associates, Inc., and has specialized in the testing, measurement, and safety of alternative fuels and electric vehicle charging. Mr. Quong was one of the innovators in developing hydrogen fueling performance and safety standards. He has worked with fire departments across the country to create hydrogen fueling station, vehicle, and building safety guidelines. Mr. Quong has also managed several vehicle projects which involved hands-on construction, small scale manufacturing, and testing of electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles. Mr. Quong is an active member of the Society of Automotive Engineers hybrid committee which sets safety and testing standards for advanced vehicles and alternative fuels.

Gary is a registered professional engineer and a consultant in the alternative energy/hydrogen infrastructure space. He serves as Director of Engineering for the Standard Hydrogen Corporation. He recently retired from General Motors LLC after a 36 year career including 18 years supporting GM’s Fuel Cell program, and managing the deployment of GM’s Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles in the “Project Driveway” fleet and U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Energy projects related to Fuel Cells. In addition, Gary led a range of Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure projects in support of the demonstration and commercialization of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles and remains active in SAE , CSA, and ISO standards development related to hydrogen fueling protocols, hydrogen fuel quality, and hydrogen fueling equipment.

Gary earned a BSME degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1982 and an MSE degree in Controls Engineering from Purdue University in 1995.

Dr. J. Kelly Thomas is a vice-president and manager of the blast effects section at BakerRisk. He graduated with a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University, where he worked primarily in the areas of advanced nuclear fuels and space nuclear power systems. Dr. Thomas worked at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site until 1999, with a focus on nuclear fuels and materials, accident analysis, and flammability and explosion issues. Dr. Thomas joined BakerRisk in 1999, where his primary focus has been on the characterization, modeling and testing of flammability & explosion related phenomena, explosion consequence assessments, and the investigation of accidental explosions.